Abstract

Research on social representations constructed by students in relation to contemporary problems represents a fundamental space for investigative exploration. This study sought to analyze the repre-sentations of Chilean and Argentine primary school students regarding the "conflict" between the Chile, Argentina and the Mapuche people. The research was qualitative and used a grounded theory approach. The data was collected through holding focus groups in Chilean and Argentine schools. The analysis involved the use of coding paradigm procedures in order to investigate social represen-tations in a procedural and structural way. The results reveal the role that students give to the tea-ching of History. The conclusions identify that the teaching of History does not contribute to the un-derstanding of this problem.